The Rising Awareness Journey
Inclusion. Healing. Belonging.
Chief Aim. Vision. Basic Belief.
'Kintsugi (golden joinery) is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, a method similar to the maki-e technique. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise. The results often being deemed more beautiful than the original 'unbroken' item."
Our Chief Aim
The Rising Awareness Journey is an international multiethnic collective movement dedicated to educating, teaching, and equipping Business Leaders, Human Resources Professionals, Diversity & Inclusion Champions, and Professional Trusted Advisors (Coaches, Facilitators, Consultants), with the skillset, tools, and resources to effectively navigate the “messy and uncomfortable conversations about racism and related social constructs.”
Our Vision
To actively mend and knit together, like a fractured or broken bone, The Human Race from racism and related social constructs one person and conversation at a time.
Our Basic Belief
If Inclusion, Healing, and Belonging are deliberately and intentionally practiced by everyone within one’s business, organization, or institution, then one will have Diversity, Equity, and all the other letters following the acronym DEI.
The Four “A’s”
Awareness
The continual “rising” consciousness, awareness and acknowledgment that systemic racism has been and continues to be a part of our worldwide story.
Allyship
The continued public supportive association with another person or group, specifically with members of a marginalized or mistreated group.
Accomplice
The continued use of one’s privilege to challenge existing conditions at the risk of their own comfort and well-being.
Accountability
The “moral obligation and mandate” to speak up, say something, or do something when you see something that’s not right, fair, or just.
“When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have a moral obligation and mandate to speak up. You have to say something. You have to do something”
The Late Honorable U.S. Congressman John Lewis
The Rising
Awareness
Journey
Core Competencies
Co-Creating the Relationship to Connect First - Creating first psychological safety, mutual trust, and a designed alliance for conversations.
Activism & Accountability - Developing action plans for transformational change and executing with a method of accountability.
Conversational Vital Sign # 1 – The examination of our cognitive thinking and the attitudes of the heart that underpins and motivate what we say and do.
Conversational Vital Sign # 2 – The neuroscience and execution of effectively navigating through challenging conversations.
The Socratic Method of Critical Thinking – Improves conversations about all types of hard topics, which includes asking and receiving questions fearlessly, saying what you think, not getting hot when others say what they think, loving the truth.
Connection Circles
The RAJ Connection Circle will provide its Members a deeper dive into The Rising Awareness Journey podcast episodes, topics and, more importantly, experience each other as a
Mastermind, Group Coaching, Incubator & Accelerator Group
Incubator for "hatching" and piloting ideas to bring about lasting change
Accelerator, i.e., a community to help one another launch their pilots/proof of concepts
RAJ Connection Circle Members will:
Gain insight and "rise awareness" into the impact of their conversations with the goal to consistently elevate conversations from transactional and/or positional to transformational conversations.
Integrate new relational, conversational strategies and essential Rising Awareness principles, practices, and methodologies.
Develop skills that will enable them to effectively navigate through conversations about racism and related social constructs, emphasizing co-creating relationships to connect first and then conversate, coach, facilitate, etc.
Gain mastery in Rising Awareness' Four A's (Awareness, Advocacy, Allyship, Activism) and core competencies.
Reinforce their learning through The Rising Awareness Journey Connection Circle activities.
“If Inclusion, Healing, and Belonging is deliberately and intentionally practiced by everyone within your business, organization, and institution, then you will have Diversity, Equity, and all the other letters following the acronym DEI.”
– Perry Rhue
Understanding the Connection Circle
The Rising Awareness Journey Connection Circles process draws directly from the traditions of the Talking Circle, common among indigenous people of North America. It is an ancient, indigenous tradition that creates space “to solve problems, to support and connect at a deeper level with one another.” Such processes still exist today among indigenous people globally.
RAJ Connection Circles create space for restorative vs. punitive justice work, i.e, tearing down walls and barriers, deep active and empathetic listening, sharing experiences and stories, building trust, love (agápé), healing and peacebuilding via activism.
Can We Talk???...About Inclusion, Healing, and Belonging?
Podcast
Hosts & Lead-Learners
Perry Rhue & Ken Sawyer
COMING SOON
PODCAST CHIEF-AIM
Create and grow an international multiethnic community of professionals who are like-minded, like-spirited, critical thinkers who are doing the work of healing The Human Race from racism and related social constructs.
Educate, teach, and equip Professional Trusted Advisors, Business Leaders Human Resources Professionals, and Diversity & Inclusion Champions with the skillset, tools, and resources to effectively navigate the “messy and uncomfortable conversations about racism and related social constructs.”
Introduce our listeners to guest speakers lived experiences, examples, and tools that will help them successfully lead, coach, teach, and/or facilitate conversations, workshops, relationships, etc., about racism, inclusion, healing, and belonging.
All listeners will walk away from every podcast episode with the opportunity to create and execute their action plan and method of accountability based on each episode topic. This for individual listeners will fulfill The Rising Awareness Journey’s fourth “A,” i.e., Activism.